(A black & white photo makes it uber classy, no?)

The Iceman has spoken about who he wants to fight next (after UFC 85) and it includes the usual suspects, plus a new entry. Liddell thinks he should be the one to take down Fedor Emelianenko. Chuck spoke to The Sun recently and had this to say about a possible match-up with the Russian badass:

“Fedor’s someone I want to fight because he’s someone I match up well with. He’s a ground and pound guy that doesn’t have a great shot. He doesn’t have a great game plan.

“I think I could take him. I think I match up well with him.

“As far as I know he’s never knocked anyone out from his feet and I think he’d have a hard time taking me down.”

Liddell goes on to say he might consider a move up to the heavyweight division once he’s done with light heavyweight. By “done”, we assume he means beating Rampage, Jardine, Wanderlei Silva again, and successfully defending the belt against someone like Dana-favorite Sokoudjou.

Arguably the best fight from the best fight card of 2007: Dan Henderson’s romper-stomper against Wanderlei Silva for the middleweight title at PRIDE 33, last February 24th in Las Vegas. If you’re calling the Silva/Henderson match for Hendo, I have no beef with you; anyone who can put on a performance like this is capable of others like it. And that knockout punch was a thing of beauty…

Part 1

Part 2

(Sir Robert Sapp, middle, headlines Da’ Dome tonight.)

I’m in the mood to check out some of the weekend’s news, so how ’bout it?

— Wanderlei Silva is close to putting his ink on an agreement to fight Keith Jardine. Rumors have been flying about this one, but now Wandy is confirming the showdown will be for UFC 84. There is an English version on Wandy’s official blog if you prefer the Americanized version – just click on the US flag in the upper right corner. This adds to a fight card that also includes B.J. Penn v Sean Sherk, Lyoto Machida v Tito Ortiz, Rashad Evans v Thiago Silva, among others. The show will be on May 24th in Vegas.

— Speaking of UFC 84, tickets will be available for the event via an exclusive presale on February 28th. (From MMA Mania)

— Brock Lesnar’s next showing could be against Justin McCully at UFC 85. The fighter was on Friday’s episode of HDNet’s “Inside MMA” and said he is in discussions with the UFC to face the much-hyped ex-pro wrestler/ex-NFL player. McCully’s words: “We’ve been talking about fighting this big huge guy that just crossed over from some wrestling promotion. Thats in talks right now. We’ll see what happens. I hope it comes through. I really like the fight.” Regardless if it’s Lesnar or not, McCully claims he’s coming back this summer.

Though he wasn’t the one who did the actual stomping of Wanderlei Silva’s head during the infamous PRIDE 31 Chute Boxe/Hammer House riot, Phil Baroni did jump into the ring to defend Mark Coleman against the attacking Brazilians, and Wanderlei seemed to feel that the New York Bad Ass was equally to blame for his rough treatment. The must-see video below shows Mark Coleman’s attempt at an apology after that show, which was not well received.

Fortunately, Silva seems to have buried with hatchet with Baroni, as the two are now training partners at Xtreme Couture. According to Xtreme Couture’s official blog, Silva is focusing on improving his wrestling and dealing with the limitations of the cage in preparation for his next fight:

Despite physically training here for the Chuck fight, Wanderlei didn’t train with our team outside of sparring with Shawn Tompkins. Instead he worked with his personal trainers. Wanderlei tells us that when he went to rope a dope Chuck in the first round of their fight he realized he couldn’t bounce of the cage and counter Chuck the way he could coming off the ropes in the PRIDE ring.

Training partner Phil Baroni says Wanderlei is already picking up some of Randy’s tricks after the first session. “He feels strong. He’s open minded and willing to learn. He picks things up fast.” The New York Bad Ass adds, “Once he learns to use the cage and incorporate wrestling into his game he’ll be really tough to beat in the UFC. It’s an honor to train with Wanderlei. He’s a guy I’ve always tried to emulate and I look up to him.”

Is there anything more humiliating than being Wanderlei Silva and having Phil Baroni pat you on the head and say “You’re doing such a good job! You’re picking this up so fast!” Poor bastard.

Also, there’s this bombshell:

Randy says that he and Wanderlei will continue working up until Wand’s next fight. We’re not sure if we’re allowed to say who he is fighting next. But we’re told it will happen in May and it is someone who has fought Chuck. He and the rest of the UFC’s 205lb division had best be on notice…Wanderlei tells us he’d like to rack up a couple of wins and rematch Chuck on New Year’s.

Specifically, Keith Jardine had best be on notice.

(“Hey, you know what would make you feel better? A delicious Rockstar Energy Drink.”)

— If Dan Henderson beats Anderson Silva at UFC 82, Wanderlei Silva would drop to middleweight to fight him. Hendo and Wandy have fought twice before in the PRIDE organization; Silva defeated Henderson by unanimous decision in December 2000, and Henderson knocked Silva out during a long-awaited rematch in February of last year.

— France is the latest European country to legalize MMA, and M-1 is looking to be the first promotion to hold an event there. Elbows, knees, and kicks on the ground will not be allowed in French MMA matches. Tapping out will be encouraged.

— Betting odds for Saturday’s Strikeforce at the Dome event have Bob Sapp as a -600 favorite, and Jan Nortje as a +450 underdog. Even though Nortje’s MMA stats have sucked, he’s done much better as a kickboxer. If you bet on fights, remember this: Sapp always has the capacity to lose.

— Chuck Liddell’s Iceman: My Fighting Life is #9 on the New York Times Nonfiction Best Seller list for the second week in a row.

— With great power comes a great big kick in the balls: That $325 million loan that Zuffa allegedly obtained through fraudulent means requires interest payments of approximately $23.9 million per year.

There, now don’t you feel smarter?

It was the beginning of the Axe-Murderer’s current career-slide, and one of the greatest beat-downs in recent MMA history. In this open-weight match at PRIDE Final Conflict Absolute 2006, Mirko Cro Cop swarms Wanderlei Silva like a rabid bear until he sets up a signature head kick at the end of the first round, leaving Silva in a mental haze that followed him through his subsequent matches against Dan Henderson and Chuck Liddell. We highly recommend you skip past 2:17-5:45, which has to be the longest mid-fight medical clearance of all time.

(Rua, Norris & Rua: Attorneys at Roundhouse)

Chute Boxe, the legendary Brazilian muay thai/jiu-jitsu camp that has produced MMA stars including Anderson Silva, Wanderlei Silva, and brothers Mauricio and Murilo Rua, is finishing up negotiations to launch a satellite school in Los Angeles, according to MMA Weekly. Says Chute Boxe head coach Rafael Cordeiro:

“The plans are to make a two way road between L.A. and Curitiba and to maintain this high level training in Curitiba and in L.A. We want to put our boys to fight and train in both camps, Brazilian guys in L.A. and Americans going to Brazil to spend some time in our camp. This will elevate our athletes performance and at the same time we will recruit an excellent amount of new American and Latin athletes that are popping up in the U.S.A.”

Exact location and opening date for the school haven’t been announced yet.

It’s too bad this hasn’t happened sooner — how incredible would it be to have Chute Boxe go up against Xtreme Couture and Miletich Fighting Systems during the IFL’s 2008 season? I guess we’ll just have to wait until 2009 (assuming the IFL isn’t tits-up by then).

The L.A.-expansion announcement is the first bit of good news for Chute Boxe following a year that was marked by the departure of its most famous students, Wanderlei Silva and the Rua brothers among them. Speaking of whom…

MMA Madness gets all mathematical ‘n shit with UFC 79′s Liddell/Silva fight, analyzing the data from Fightmetric, the world’s first comprehensive MMA statistics system. The most interesting part is the round-by-round chart at the bottom of the page which shows how many of each type of strike the fighters landed to each section of their opponent’s body, but the breakdown is fairly insightful on its own. Some of the observations:

— “…it took Silva longer to throw his first punch (45 seconds) than it did for him to earn five of his 31 career victories.

— Although two judges scored the fight 30-27, “FightMetric clearly gives [the second] round to Silva by a score of 158-87, even after Liddell’s score is bolstered for the damage inflicted in the round that opened a cut on Silva’s right eyebrow.”

— “Silva’s jab-to-power strike ratio is absurd. Based on FightMetric’s database of statistics, the average fighter throws about 1.5 jabs for every power strike at distance, a ratio of three-to-two. Silva threw more than 2.5 power strikes for every jab thrown, a five-to-two ratio that is at odds with most fighters’ striking styles.”

Overall, Liddell wins the fight by a Fightmetric total score of 340-265. If you want to kill your productivity at work today, go to Fightmetric and start clicking around. Particularly notable is the insanely-detailed breakdown of the Michael Bisping/Matt Hamill match at UFC 75, which argues that Bisping did sneak off with rounds 2 and 3, though the first round was so lopsided that he would have lost if the fight was judged on total scoring, and not the outdated-for-MMA 10-point must system.

So, here’s something I’ve noticed while going through the massive pile-up of previews and miscellaneous hype for tomorrow’s UFC 79: Both Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva are convinced that they’re going to win. Which is totally strange, right? Because technically one of them has to lose. But it’s like…ah fuck, I just lost my train of thought.

Anyway, here are two more “Nemesis”-related videos, because you should be thinking about nothing else until tomorrow night. First off, Chuck Liddell’s appearance on ESPN’s Hot List yesterday: There’s nothing you haven’t heard him say before, but it’s worth it just for the moment at the 4:58-remaining mark where Chuck is clearly struggling to remember where he is and why the man in the suit is asking him questions. Still, it’s nowhere near the worst interview that the Iceman has done; whatever the cough syrup equivalent to methadone is, it seems to be working.

And then we have a segment from RawVegasTV, where Stephan Bonnar, Arianny Celeste, and professional BMX rider T.J. Lavin discuss their predictions for UFC 79 — or as the screen graphic calls them, “FIGTH PICKS.” (Speaking of typos, MMAFightline has an awesome one today.) Not sure what makes Lavin qualified to be on the panel — it surely isn’t the energy he brings to the discussion — but the gang gives a unanimous nod to Liddell and St. Pierre, and splits on Sokoudjou/Machida.

Just because every MMA blog has to make an official prediction, we’ll stand by our earlier claim and say that Sokoudjou, Silva and (the long-shot pick) Hughes are going home with victories tomorrow night. That’s right — the option we picked in the current CagePotato poll is sitting comfortably in last place. But we’re prepared to go 0-3, because honestly, who knows?

 

More importantly, we’ve watched as the octagon has inched closer to the mainstream and it’s cool to see peeps like ESPN giving MMA more and more web space every month – even if they are looking at it through Dana White-colored glasses. Stay tuned for our full preview of the night later this week where we’ll break it down all proper for you.

8. Fedor Emelianenko vs Josh Barnett
As Emelianenko climbed to the top of the PRIDE heavyweight ranks, the only fighter who eluded one of his signature ass-whippings was the one big name he never fought: the Baby Faced Assassin, Josh Barnett. When his name came up as a possible opponent for Fedor at Yarennoka!, our heart skipped a beat. Then, reality set in. Fedor would most likely do to Barnett what he does to everyone else — turn him into a human punching-bag for 2-15 minutes depending on how hard his skull is — but Barnett is an A-level fighter and it wouldn’t be fair to count him out against anybody (even though we just did).

7. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs. Andrei Arlovski
While every other heavyweight match the UFC books seems to feature Tim “Xanax” Sylvia, the organization’s two most exciting stars are sitting on the bench. Anytime you put two offensive powerhouses — neither of whom has much of a chin — in a cage together, you’re guaranteed to see fireworks. It doesn’t matter that Cro Cop is coming off of back-to-back losses and there really wouldn’t be anything on the line; fans would kill to see these guys bash it out.

Wandy likes to rock the party!

I don’t know what this ad is selling — or if it even is an ad — but I’ll take twelve!

Right now, as you go about the normal activities of your day, Quinton Jackson is praying his ass off that Chuck Liddell beats Wanderlei Silva at UFC 79. Because if Silva wins, he’ll probably be next in line after Forrest Griffin to challenge Rampage for the light-heavyweight title, and if that happens, there might be a repeat of the brutality that befell the current UFC light-heavy champ at the Pride “Final Conflict” Grand Prix in November 2003. If you have the stomach for it, watch the video below (and turn down your speakers now, because the soundtrack is dreadful):

Their re-match a year later ended the exact same way. Now we know why Rampage occasionally sounds developmentally disabled…

Quote of the day, from 15Rounds.com via MMA Mania:

What do you think about Fedor Emelianenko’s choice not to fight in the UFC?
WS: He’s crazy. I don’t know why the guy doesn’t want to fight here. These are the best events. This is the biggest promotion. The guy could be a symbol here. He could have money for the rest of his life. He could do well with the promotion, with sponsors, with commercials, and many other possibilities…He needs to come to the UFC.

Silva went on to say, “Dana White is an intelligent, virile, beautiful man who definitely does not keep me in a cage at night and beat me with hoses. Well, sometimes he beats me with hoses, but they’re thin hoses, and it’s only because I’m so clumsy and ungrateful.”

But seriously, you should read the rest of the interview, in which Wandy gives major props to Forrest Griffin and addresses the rumor that he could be a coach on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter:

I’d love to coach or even be a fighter on it. What I think they should [do] some day is have a program with major professional fighters. For me, I’d want to do it. It’s a great show.

Having pro fighters compete on The Ultimate Fighter is a fantastic idea, but it might be a little tough to pull off. For now, I think the UFC should just hold a one-off TUF special where Silva fights Richie Hightower to the death. Winner gets a Xyience sponsorship!

I never thought there was much technique involved in the soccer kick, but in this clip, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua demonstrates the formerly-legal attack that served him well in his PRIDE career, with his older brother Murilo as his training dummy.

Speaking of Chute Boxe alums, Jose “Pele” Landi-Jons faces Jake “The Juggernaut” Ellenberger in the main event of tomorrow’s Extreme Fighting Challenge 5: Revolution, and the Chute Boxe USA website has some killer videos of Wanderlei Silva fighting in bare-knuckle vale tudo matches.

Though some MMA fans are ragging on the UFC 78 lineup for having a weak main event*, UFC 79 looks like it’ll make up for that starless night like a motherfucker. How stacked is this card (aka “Nemesis”)? Well, we already knew about the Serra vs. Hughes grudge match**, and the historic light heavyweight meeting between Chuck Liddell and PRIDE legend Wanderlei Silva. But yesterday, Bubba the Love Sponge (I know, bear with me) reported that Dan Henderson may be fighting in December — and at middleweight (a wise move after his loss to Quinton Jackson in his UFC debut). What this means is: 1) Nemesis has the potential to be one of the greatest UFC cards of all time, and 2) With PRIDE now absorbed into the UFC, it’s all becoming one big Circle of Life (no, I will not link to that Elton John/Lion King video). Let’s run down the timeline…

12/9/00: Wanderlei Silva beats Dan Henderson (unan. dec., PRIDE 12)

11/9/03: Quinton Jackson beats Chuck Liddell (corner stoppage TKO, PRIDE Final Conflict middleweight semi-finals)

11/9/03: Wanderlei Silva beats Quinton Jackson (strikes TKO, PRIDE Final Conflict middleweight finals)

10/31/04: Wanderlei Silva beats Quinton Jackson for the second time (KO by knee, PRIDE 28)

2/24/07: Dan Henderson beats Wanderlei Silva to win the PRIDE middleweight title (KO by punch, PRIDE 33)

5/26/07: Quinton Jackson beats Chuck Liddell for the second time to win UFC light heavyweight title (strikes TKO, UFC 71)

9/8/07: Quinton Jackson beats Dan Henderson to retain UFC light heavyweight title (unan. dec., UFC 75)

So from these fights, it could be inferred that Silva > Jackson > Henderson > Liddell. What we really need to see, therefore, is a re-rematch between Silva and Jackson, to determine if Rampage really deserves his UFC belt. Hopefully Dana White can make that happen if Wanderlei can give “Mr. Rock Star Lifestyle” his third-straight loss.

* For the record, I’m psyched for Bisping/Evans, and all you Count-haters can suck my eggs.
** I see this one going the same way as Ortiz/Shamrock after TUF 3, with the frustrated hothead coach so frustrated and hotheaded that he can’t fight properly in the Octogon — Serra for shocking upset #2.